{"id":14059,"date":"2020-05-26T13:09:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T13:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=14059"},"modified":"2020-05-29T13:05:15","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T13:05:15","slug":"before-the-open-may-26-29","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=14059","title":{"rendered":"Before the Open (May 26-29)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n Good morning. Happy Friday. <\/span>

\n\n The Asian\/Pacific<\/strong> markets closed mixed. India, Indonesia and the Philippines did well; Japan and Australia were weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East<\/strong> are currently mostly down. The UK, France, Germany, the UAE, Russia, Greece, South Africa, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands and Austria are weakest. Futures in the States<\/strong> point towards a down open for the cash market. <\/span>

\n\n—————\nVIDEO: Managing the Tech Drop<\/a> <\/span>\n—————<\/span>

\n\n The dollar is down. Oil is down; copper is up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are up. <\/span>

\n\n Stories\/News from Seeking Alpha…<\/span>

\n\nGlobal markets are jittery after China’s parliament moved forward with national security legislation for Hong Kong and with President Trump holding a press conference later today on potential sanctions on Chinese officials. A revocation of Hong Kong’s favored status is considered a worst-case outcome of the press conference for investors. Amid the geopolitical drama, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell back from a three-month high with a drop of 0.2% and Australia’s ASX 200 declined 1.6%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off 0.7%, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2%. In Europe, stocks have started the day off in negative territory, with the Stoxx 600 Index posting a 1.1% drop at midday. U.S. stock futures are pointing lower. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was down to 0.67% and the yield on the 30-year bond fell to 1.435% at last check.

\n\nNetEase to list shares in Hong Kong

\n\nNetEase (NASDAQ:NTES) confirmed it will seek a secondary listing in Hong Kong in a letter to shareholders. The U.S.-listed Chinese online gaming company made the decision amid increased scrutiny over Chinese firms. NetEase’s secondary listing follows the successful decision by Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) to raise capital in Hong Kong and could give a needed boost to the financial hub. NetEase did not disclose the amount of capital it plans to raise.

\n\nTokyo to ease restrictions

\n\nThe Tokyo Metropolitan Government is planning to ease business restrictions in the city to “step 2” of its reopening plan on June 1. The decision will allow shopping malls, gyms and movie theaters to reopen. The number of confirmed cases in Tokyo has been between 10 to 15 for the last three days, even as other parts of Japan are seeing a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

\n\nBig day for biopharma

\n\nThe highly watched American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting pivots to a virtual format for the first time ever this year. While as many as 40K medical professionals and scientists typically attend the meeting in person every year, this year’s online event could draw even more interest. The conference’s virtual scientific program kicks off today and will feature over 250 oral abstract presentations and 2,500 poster presentations in 24 disease-based and specialty tracks. Today’s top abstract presentations include updates from Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), Merck (NYSE:MRK), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN), Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ:SGEN). The presentations all start at 8:00 A.M. ET.

\n\nCrude oil futures fall back

\n\nOil prices are lower after U.S. inventory data showed soft fuel demand, despite the hopes for a Memorial Day weekend rush of motorist activity. Still, there is optimism bubbling under the surface in the oil markets after strong gains in May followed the disastrous supply glut and limited storage turmoil in April. While ships full of crude are still anchored on the high seas with onshore storage sold out, the volume of crude stored on ships in Asia has come off the peaks seen earlier this month on a recovery in demand in China and India. A fresh report from the International Energy Agency projects global oil demand in May is set to decline ~25 mb\/d compared to a year ago, with June demand clocking in at ~15 mb\/d below last year’s level. Looking ahead, OPEC+ talks on output are scheduled for the second week of June. In early action, WTI crude oil futures -2.8% to $32.73\/bbl and Brent crude -2.9% to $34.28\/bbl.

\n\nMacro in focus

\n\nEconomic reports will pour in today with updates on the trade gap, personal income, consumer spending, core inflation and consumer sentiment all due to drop. One of the more notable reports might be the consumer spending print, which is expected to show a 13.0% drop for April after spending fell off 7.5% in March. There could be a surprise with the tally, as estimates from economists range from -18.9% to -8.5%. That wide spread in guesses is due to the difficulty in modeling consumer behavior around a pandemic and stockpiling trend. Also on the calendar today, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is due to give a talk with Princeton University Professor Alan Blinder. Of course, every time Powell talks these days, the focus is on whether he is softening his stance on negative interest rates.

\n\nVolkswagen pours investments into China

\n\nVolkswagen (OTCPK:VWAGY) agreed to acquire a 50% stake in the parent company of Shanghai-listed Anhui Jianghuai Automobile for an undisclosed amount. The German automaker is also expected to increase its stake in its joint venture with Jianghuai Automobile to 75%. Jianghuai said the two companies plan to spend \u20ac1B ($1.11B) on raising the annual production of the joint venture to 350K-400K units by 2029 and introduce up to five additional electric car models by 2025.

\n\nSocial media giants put on notice

\n\nPresident Trump signed an executive order targeting social media companies and the protections they have from liability for content posted on their platforms. The action follows complaints from the White House on the “unchecked power” of social media giants. Despite the uproar on both sides of the issue of cracking down on social media giants, Wall Street analysts expect very little actual action. “More bark than bite,” says Height Capital Markets in a reaction that is similar to takes from JPMorgan and others. The FCC is seen taking a long time to enforce a policy, even if there is a way around the tricky issue of First Amendment rights. Still, the executive order turns an even brighter spotlight on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Snap (NYSE:SNAP).

\n\nPayday for Musk

\n\nElon Musk has earned the first tranche of his mammoth performance-based payout from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) for keeping the company’s market cap at $100B or more on a 30-day and six-month moving average. Other conditions that had to be met were Tesla recording trailing revenue of $20B for four quarters or EBITDA of $1.5B. As part of the first tranche, Musk landed about 1.7M shares of Tesla through options with a strike price of $350.02, which works out to about $775M at yesterday’s closing price of $805.81.

\n\nWhat else is happening…

\n\nAT&T (NYSE:T) works out debt prepayment.

\n\nCisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) picks up ThousandEyes.

\n\nHBO Max (T) hits 90K mobile downloads on day one.

\n\nUPS (NYSE:UPS) adds holiday-type surcharge in May.

\n\nThursday’s Key Earnings<\/B>
\nDell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) +5.8% AH on strong orders.
\nCostco (NASDAQ:COST) -2% AH despite strong comparable sales.
\nSalesforce (NYSE:CRM) -3% AH on trimming FY guidance.
\nZscaler (NASDAQ:ZS) +16% AH on strong revenue.
\nVMware (NYSE:VMW) +8.5% AH on Q1 beats.
\nWilliams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) +7.6% AH after earnings topper.

\n\nToday’s Economic Calendar<\/B>
\n8:30 International Trade in Goods
\n8:30 Retail Inventories (Advance)
\n8:30 Wholesale Inventories (Advance)
\n8:30 Personal Income and Outlays
\n9:45 Chicago PMI
\n10:00 Consumer Sentiment
\n11:00 Jerome Powell Speech
\n1:00 PM Baker-Hughes Rig Count
\n3:00 PM Farm Prices

\n\n——————–

\n\n Good morning. Happy Thursday. <\/span>

\n\n The Asian\/Pacific<\/strong> markets leaned up. Japan, India, Australia and Indonesia did well; New Zealand was weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East<\/strong> are currently doing very well. The UK, Denmark, Poland, France, Russia, South Africa, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and Sweden are up more than 1%. Futures in the States<\/strong> point towards a flat open for the cash market. <\/span>

\n\n—————\nVIDEO: Managing the Tech Drop<\/a> <\/span>\n—————<\/span>

\n\n The dollar is down. Oil is down; copper is up. Gold and silver are up. Bonds are down. <\/span>

\n\n Stories\/News from Seeking Alpha…<\/span>

\n\nThings are escalating quickly after Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) applied a fact-checking label to President Trump’s tweet about the potential for fraud with mail-in ballots. An executive order is now set to be published today that would reportedly open the door for federal officials to punish social media companies – for the way they moderate content – by allowing regulators to rethink Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The law largely exempts online platforms from legal liability for the material their users post, and such changes could expose tech companies to more lawsuits. The order would also address political bias on the platforms and review advertising spending on platforms like Twitter, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Google (GOOG, GOOGL) and Snap (NYSE:SNAP).

\n\nNext moves?

\n\nDow and S&P 500 futures are looking to continue the surge seen Wednesday, rising as much as 0.5%, though Nasdaq futures were off slightly on word of an executive order against social media companies. The big overnight action seen over the last couple of days was not present, however, amid the latest tensions with China, the leave-home trade and a gloomy Fed “Beige Book” as U.S. coronavirus deaths climbed past 100,000. On the calendar today is the second estimate of Q1 GDP, weekly jobless claims and durable goods orders, as well as earnings from Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) and Costco (NASDAQ:COST).

\n\n‘One country, one system’

\n\nChina’s largely rubber-stamp parliament has passed the controversial national security bill for Hong Kong, a move that raises concerns about the territory’s future as a financial center. Currently the city is not subjected to the same U.S. tariffs and restrictions as mainland China due to its “high degree of political and legal autonomy.” If the bill is enacted, however, it would represent the first time Beijing has introduced a law that imposes criminal penalties into Hong Kong’s legal code and bypassed the city’s legislature.

\n\nTensions rise

\n\nBesides possible penalties on Beijing over the Hong Kong security bill, sanctions are already on the way to President Trump’s desk as relations between the U.S. and China continue to deteriorate. The House of Representatives approved legislation condemning China for the detention and torture of Uighur Muslims after the bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate earlier this month. Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, also lost a major legal battle on Wednesday in her fight against extradition to the U.S. to stand trial on fraud charges.

\n\nSpaceX scrubs launch due to weather

\n\nAstronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley were only 17 minutes away from launching on SpaceX’s (SPACE) Crew Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket before the cancellation due to inclement weather. The flight is now rescheduled for 3:22 p.m. on Saturday. Besides becoming the first private company to fly humans into orbit, SpaceX hopes the mission to the ISS could herald an upcoming era of space travel into low-Earth orbit, the moon, Mars and beyond.

\n\nNext round of mass layoffs

\n\n“We must plan for operating a smaller airline for the foreseeable future,” American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) told employees, saying it would need to reduce its 17,000 management and support staff by 30%. The carrier will accept volunteers to take buyouts through June 10 and make forced cuts if there aren’t enough as CEO Doug Parker dismissed rumors about bankruptcy. United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) has also announced plans to cut management ranks by 30% once U.S. government payroll aid expires in the fall.

\n\nCarl Icahn exits Hertz

\n\n“Unfortunately because of COVID-19 which has caused an extremely rapid and substantial decrease in travel, Hertz (NYSE:HTZ) has encountered major financial difficulties,” billionaire investor Carl Icahn said after offloading his entire 39% stake for a “significant loss.” Shares of Hertz (HTZ) tumbled over 20% following the news on Wednesday. “I intend to closely follow the company\u2019s reorganization and I look forward to assessing different opportunities to support Hertz (HTZ) in the future,” Icahn added in a statement.

\n\nApple going big on movie content

\n\nBeating out rivals like Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has secured a deal for Hollywood veteran Martin Scorsese’s next film, Killers of the Flower Moon, which will feature Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. The project will be Apple\u2019s biggest foray into film yet after acquiring Greyhound, starring Tom Hanks, last year. Killers of the Flower Moon will be labeled an Apple Original Film and Paramount Pictures (NASDAQ:VIAC) will distribute it theatrically worldwide. Scorsese’s last film, The Irishman, was released on Netflix in 2019.

\n\nCoronavirus vaccine boosters

\n\nAs it works on its own coronavirus vaccine with Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY), GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) said it will expand production of vaccine efficacy boosters, or adjuvants, to produce 1B doses in 2021. It’s in talks with governments on backing for the program, which would effectively allow for a scaling up of production of future successful vaccines. Glaxo says its adjuvant can reduce the amount of vaccine protein required per dose, which would allow for more vaccines to be made to combat COVID-19.

\n\nWhat else is happening…

\n\nAckman dumps stake in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B).

\n\nGoogle (GOOG, GOOGL) hit with consumer fraud lawsuit by Arizona.

\n\nMicron (NASDAQ:MU) raises third-quarter revenue forecast.

\n\nU.S. shale rebound at least a year away – Precision Drilling (NYSE:PDS).

\n\nExxon (NYSE:XOM) shareholders reject bid to split chairman, CEO roles.

\n\nWalt Disney World (NYSE:DIS) plans to reopen on July 11.

\n\nWednesday’s Key Earnings<\/B>
\nBox (NYSE:BOX) +0.3% AH on demand for remote-work tools.
\nHP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) -5.1% AH posting a broad revenue decline.
\nNutanix (NASDAQ:NTNX) -6.1% AH on widening losses.
\nWorkday (NASDAQ:WDAY) +5.7% AH following double-digit revenue growth.

\n\nToday’s Economic Calendar<\/B>
\n8:30 Durable Goods
\n8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
\n8:30 GDP Q1
\n8:30 Corporate profits
\n10:00 Pending Home Sales
\n10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
\n11:00 Kansas City Fed Mfg Survey
\n11:00 EIA Petroleum Inventories
\n11:00 Fed’s Williams Speech
\n1:00 PM Results of $38B, 7-Year Note Auction
\n3:00 PM Fed’s Harker Speech
\n4:30 PM Money Supply
\n4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet

\n\n———————-

\n\n Good morning. Happy Wednesday. <\/span>

\n\n The Asian\/Pacific<\/strong> markets leaned up. Japan, India, New Zealand and Malaysia did well; China was weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East<\/strong> are currently mostly up. The UK, Poland, France, Turkey, Germany, Greece, Finland, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Austria and Sweden are each up at last 1%. Futures in the States<\/strong> point towards a positive opoen for the cash market. <\/span>

\n\n—————\nVIDEO: State of the Market<\/a> <\/span>\n—————<\/span>

\n\n The dollar is up a small amount . Oil and copper are down. Gold and silver are down. Bonds are down. <\/span>

\n\n Stories\/News from Seeking Alpha…<\/span>

\n\nU.S. ambitions to reclaim independence as a spacefaring nation will be on display this afternoon as astronauts – Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken – are sent into space from American soil for the first time since 2011. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon (SPACE) beat Boeing’s (NYSE:BA) Starliner to the finish line for today’s 4:33 p.m. liftoff in a chance to become the first private company to fly humans into orbit. “All the teams are go,” said NASA’s Kathy Lueders, as odds of acceptable launch weather improved to 60%. Besides NASA’s Commercial Crew program, the mission to the ISS could herald an upcoming era of space travel in which private businesses ferry humans to low-Earth orbit and beyond.

\n\nBoeing begins layoffs

\n\nWhile airline stocks soared as much as 16% on Tuesday as restrictions were eased on social activity and travel, the positivity is not stopping some mass layoffs in the industry. Boeing (BA) is set to announce about 2,500 voluntary layoffs at its Seattle-area commercial airplanes division in the first phase of broader cuts triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Company executives said last month that the U.S. planemaker planned to shed about 10% of its 160,000-strong global workforce this year.

\n\nTraders cheer

\n\nWall Street is looking to continue Tuesday’s rally as U.S. stock index futures point to gains of more than 1% at the open. Stocks surged yesterday on optimism about economies reopening and the potential development of a coronavirus vaccine, while sentiment also got a boost from the reopening of the NYSE’s famed trading floor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell further said Congress will “probably” have to pass another coronavirus relief bill and will decide whether to do so in the coming weeks.

\n\nWhat kind of Hong Kong sanctions on China?

\n\nThe Treasury Department could impose controls on transactions and freeze assets of Chinese officials and businesses for implementing a new national security law that brings into question “one country, two systems.” Other measures under consideration include visa restrictions for Chinese Communist Party officials, sources told Bloomberg. The Hang Seng Index slipped 0.6% overnight as President Trump said he believes Hong Kong will lose its status as Asia’s financial hub if the new law proceeds.

\n\nNationwide basic income project

\n\nSpain is expediting the first nationwide basic income project, a pre-electoral promise that’s being accelerated due to the coronavirus pandemic. With one of the highest levels of unemployment in the eurozone, the basic income is meant to reach 850K households and 2.5M poorer citizens. Details are being ironed out in parliament this week, but government officials have said the minimum amount an adult will receive will be about half the minimum wage, which is \u20ac1,108 per month.

\n\nDriverless vehicle technology

\n\nAmazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is in advanced talks to acquire Zoox in a move that would expand the company’s reach in autonomous vehicle technology, WSJ reports. The companies are discussing a deal that would value Zoox at less than the $3.2B it achieved in a funding round in 2018, according to the report. Zoox has been working to develop the hardware and software needed to create electric-powered robot taxis that would be summoned by a smartphone app starting this year.

\n\nWalmart tries secondhand clothing

\n\nVia a partnership with clothing and accessories reseller ThredUp, Walmart (NYSE:WMT) will offer nearly 750,000 items of used women’s and children’s clothing and accessories on its website. Customers get free shipping with minimum spending of $35. Macy’s (NYSE:M) and J.C. Penney (OTCPK:JCPNQ) have also added secondhand clothing to their merchandise lineups as retailers expand their focus on recycling programs and other sustainability measures.

\n\nFree speech vs. censorship

\n\nTwin decisions by Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) on Tuesday are stirring partisans on both sides of the political debate over the policing of social media and free speech. Twitter applied a fact-checking label to a tweet from President Trump about the potential for fraud involving mail-in ballots – marking its first usage for non-COVID news – though it denied a widower’s request to delete the president’s post which circulated conspiracy theories about his wife’s death (a former congressional staff member for Joe Scarborough). Similar disputes have recently taken place on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), YouTube (GOOG, GOOGL) and Spotify (NYSE:SPOT).

\n\nBiggest drop in energy investment ever

\n\nThe coronavirus crisis has been “staggering in both its scale and swiftness,” warned the IEA in its annual World Energy Investment report, stating global energy investment will tumble by 20% – or by $400B – compared to last year. Worst hit will be the U.S. shale sector, which will see investment drop by half in 2020, even as oil prices rally. “It has always been under pressure, but now access to capital and investment confidence is drying up,” said the agency’s executive director, Fatih Birol.

\n\nBig Oil loses climate ruling

\n\nState courts are the proper forum for lawsuits alleging oil companies promoted their work as environmentally responsible when they knew it was contributing to climate change, according to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The suits claim Exxon (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), BP (NYSE:BP), Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and other major oil companies created a public nuisance and should pay for damage from climate change. The ruling could eventually lead to trials in lawsuits by California cities and counties seeking damages, but in the meantime, it could include a review by a larger 9th Circuit panel and, eventually, review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

\n\nWhat else is happening…

\n\nGoogle (GOOG, GOOGL) releases plan to return to the office.

\n\nCboe (NYSE:CBOE) to reopen trading floor on June 8.

\n\nHertz (NYSE:HTZ) latest to pay top brass before bankruptcy.

\n\nJPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) is ‘very valuable’ at current levels – Dimon.

\n\nNew deals highlight EV push at Volkswagen (OTCPK:VWAGY).

\n\nTesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to cut prices for some models in N.America, China.

\n\nP-E push… KKR invests $1B in data centers in Europe.

\n\nDisney (NYSE:DIS), SeaWorld (NYSE:SEAS) to present reopening plans.

\n\nToday’s Economic Calendar<\/B>
\n7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
\n8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
\n10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
\n10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
\n11:00 Survey of Business Uncertainty
\n11:30 Results of $20B, 2-Year FRN Auction
\n12:30 PM Fed’s Bullard Speech
\n1:00 PM Results of $45B, 5-Year Note Auction
\n2:00 PM Fed’s Beige Book

\n\n———————–

\n\n Good morning. Happy Tuesday. <\/span>

\n\n The Asian\/Pacific<\/strong> markets did great. Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand all rallied at least 1%. Europe, Africa and the Middle East<\/strong> are currently mostly up. The UK, Poland, France, Germany, Greece, Russia, South Africa, Finland, Norway, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic are each up at least 1%. Futures in the States<\/strong> point towards a big gap up open for the cash market. <\/span>

\n\n—————\nVIDEO: State of the Market<\/a> <\/span>\n—————<\/span>

\n\n The dollar is down. Oil and copper are up. Gold is down; silver is up. Bonds are down. <\/span>

\n\n Stories\/News from Seeking Alpha…<\/span>

\n\nU.S. stock index futures soared 2% overnight, suggesting the S&P 500 will open above its 200-day moving average as trading resumes after Memorial Day. Americans were drawn to bars, beaches and parks during the holiday despite the number of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 approaching 100,000, while biotech company Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) started the first human study of its experimental coronavirus vaccine. “It’s the grand re-opening that matters, with the S&P 500 within earshot of the psychologically fundamental 3,000 mark,” said Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at AxiCorp. NVAX +22% premarket.

\n\nNYSE reopens

\n\nOnly a quarter of the NYSE’s (NYSE:ICE) usual population of traders will be back on the floor today as the exchange reopens following a two-month closure prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Traders who return must wear masks, avoid taking public transportation and follow social-distancing rules, with newly erected Plexiglas barriers to help them stay apart. Liability waivers must also be signed that prevent them from suing the NYSE if they get infected at the exchange. Splashy bell ringings and IPO celebrations will remain absent, as well as media broadcasts from the floor, like CNBC and Cheddar.

\n\nSanofi sheds stake in Regeneron

\n\nGiving the French drugmaker more firepower to invest in fields like cancer, Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) is selling most of its $13.2B stake in U.S. partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:REGN) through a public offering and related share repurchase. Sanofi currently holds about 23.2M shares of Regeneron\u2019s common stock, representing 20.6% ownership, which it bought in 2007 for $26\/share (now worth $570). The transactions will have no impact on the two companies’ ongoing collaboration.

\n\nLatam Airlines files for bankruptcy

\n\nLatin America’s biggest air carrier initiated a voluntary restructuring under Chapter 11 protection in New York, with the support of the Cueto family and Qatar Airways, two of its largest shareholders. Latam (NYSE:LTM) also sold a 20% stake to Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) for $1.9B in 2019. “We are looking ahead to a post-Covid-19 future and are focused on transforming our group to adapt to a new and evolving way of flying, with the health and safety of our passengers and employees being paramount,” said CEO Roberto Alvo.

\n\nHistoric launch

\n\nScheduled to blast off tomorrow at 4:33 p.m. ET, the NASA\/SpaceX (SPACE) Commercial Crew flight test launch will carry Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket. It’ll be the first time since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 that U.S. astronauts will be sent into space aboard an American rocket from American soil. The shift to private companies allows NASA to zero in on deep space travel. Those would include company-led endeavors – with relatively limited federal oversight – taking astronauts to the moon as soon as 2024 and later to Mars or beyond.

\n\nVW loses landmark Dieselgate case

\n\nGermany’s highest civil court has ruled that Volkswagen (OTCPK:VWAGY) must pay compensation to motorists who purchased vehicles with manipulated diesel engines. The ruling, which will allow owners to return their vehicles for partial reimbursement of the purchase price, sets a benchmark for about 60K lawsuits that are still pending with lower German courts. VW has already paid out more than \u20ac30B in damages, fines and buyback schemes worldwide since its Dieselgate scandal first broke in 2015.

\n\nFresh tensions

\n\n“Some U.S. political forces are taking hostage of China-U.S. relations, attempting to push ties to the brink of a so-called ‘new Cold War,'” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during his annual news briefing at the National People’s Congress. Thousands of protestors also gathered in Hong Kong over the weekend to demonstrate against Beijing’s plan to directly impose national security laws on the city. The U.S. might impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China if the legislation proceeds, warned White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.

\n\nJioMart takes on Amazon, Flipkart

\n\nReliance Industries unveiled a small pilot of JioMart deliveries in select areas of Mumbai in April, days after announcing that Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) would spend $5.7B for 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms. The company is now launching an online grocery service by capitalizing on the 400M-strong user base of Facebook-owned WhatsApp, challenging Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) local unit and Walmart’s (NYSE:WMT) Flipkart in more than 200 towns across India. “Never waste a crisis, they say!” tweeted Damodar Mall, CEO of grocery retail at Reliance. “A wise colleague mentioned today, ‘Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) also flourished starting from the SARS crisis.'”

\n\nSigns of U.S. IPO market reopening

\n\nThe market for public equity sales “is picking up sooner than anticipated,” said Neil Kell, chairman of global capital markets for Bank of America. “You’re going to see a wave of IPOs come to market that are larger rather than smaller because in volatile markets investors want more liquidity.” Six companies have filed plans to float in the U.S. in the past two weeks, surpassing all the filings in April, according to Refinitiv. The list includes online car seller Vroom (VRM) and fintech provider Shift4 Payments (FOUR). Others that have registered to list this year include Warner Music (WMGC) and Albertsons (ACI).

\n\nPPP loans

\n\nMore than four-fifths of publicly listed companies that received Paycheck Protection Program forgivable loans under the CARES Act have held onto them, Reuters reports, citing data from market research firm FactSquared. Sixty-eight companies returned $435.8M in loans out of a total of 424 public companies that were granted $1.35B. The PPP program has drawn criticism from small business owners and others for the inclusion of funding for public companies, given their easier access to capital markets.

\n\nWhat else is happening…

\n\nCasino kingpin, Stanley Ho, dies at age 98.

\n\nU.S. suspends travel from Brazil.

\n\nTech giants could be under review for online bias.

\n\nJonathan Litt shorts NYC office players – WSJ

\n\nTuesday Morning (NASDAQ:TUES) preparing bankruptcy filing within days.

\n\nBayer (OTCPK:BAYRY) reaches deals on Roundup cancer lawsuits.

\n\nVirgin Group lowers stake in Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE).

\n\nGig economy battle spans unemployment benefits.

\n\nToday’s Economic Calendar<\/B>
\n8:30 Chicago Fed National Activity Index
\n9:00 S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index
\n9:00 FHFA House Price Index
\n10:00 Consumer Confidence
\n10:00 New Home Sales
\n10:30 Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey
\n11:00 Survey of Business Uncertainty
\n1:00 PM Results of $44B, 2-Year Note Auction
\n1:00 PM Fed’s Kashkari Speech
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Good morning. Happy Friday. The Asian\/Pacific markets closed mixed. India, Indonesia and the Philippines did well; Japan and Australia were weak. Europe, Africa and the Middle East are currently mostly down. The UK, France, Germany, the UAE, Russia, Greece, South Africa, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands and Austria are weakest. Futures in the States point towards […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14059"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14059"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14068,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14059\/revisions\/14068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}